Oct 23, 2008 | Snap-on NASCAR Drivers

Atlanta Motor Speedway

Memphis Motorsports Park

October 25-26, 2008

All three of NASCAR's top series return to action this week as they make their final run to championship weekend in four weeks. The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will visit one of the fastest tracks on the circuit, Atlanta Motor Speedway, for the Pep Boys Auto 500. They will be joined by the NASCAR Truck Series who will run a Saturday afternoon show with the E-Z-GO 200. The NASCAR Nationwide Series will enjoy one more stand-alone weekend at Memphis Motorsports Park with the Kroger On Track for the Cure 250 before rejoining the Sprint Cup and Truck Series for the remainder of the 2008 schedule.

In 15 Sprint Cup Series starts at NASCAR's fastest track, Snap-on driver Kevin Harvick has one win (2001), two top-fives and three top-10 finishes. Additionally, "Happy" has two top fives and four top-10 finishes in seven NASCAR Nationwide Series starts at Atlanta Motor Speedway. But the statistics don't really tell the whole story. It's the memories that make Atlanta special to Harvick. AMS was the site of Harvick's emotional first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series win. In just his third race behind the wheel of the No. 29 after the death of Dale Earnhardt, he claimed the win by six thousandths of a second over Jeff Gordon, the third-closest margin of victory at AMS, on March 11, 2001.

"That was a big day for RCR. We didn't really know where we were going, what we were doing and what was happening with the company. To come and win the race kind of started the healing process at RCR," said Harvick.

"I don't think that day will ever really sink in because that part of the season was just so strange. That whole year was just strange," Harvick remembered. "None of us really wanted to be in that position. I know that was the first race that I won and you can only win your first race once and I remember that every time I come back to Atlanta. You go back and you still remember that day. Just something strange about the way the whole year went and I don't know if it really ever sunk in."

After posting consecutive top-15 finishes in the last two races, Martin Truex Jr. hopes to continue his team's momentum at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

"I don't want to jinx it, but we may be getting on a little bit of a roll," Truex said. "We had a decent finish at Charlotte (14th) and that's a place where we've struggled some, and we finished 10th at Martinsville and that had been one of our worst tracks. We're all hoping that we can finish the season on a hot streak."

While all of the drivers can't be in the championship hunt, even those on the outside can enjoy watching the competition take shape. Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch should be considered an "authority" on NASCAR's "Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship." After all, it was the always-feisty Las Vegas-native who claimed the first such title in 2004.

"It's over - Jimmie times three," Busch said. "If there's anyone out there who knows from experience enough to make such a statement, it's probably me. After all, we went down to the wire with those guys (Jimmie Johnson and the Chad Knaus-led No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Team) in 2004 and were so fortunate to beat them by eight points for the championship."

If Busch says Johnson is en route to his third consecutive title, you can take that to the bank. After all, it was the Penske Racing driver who back on Sept. 23, after only two 2008 Chase races were in the record book, made the bold statement that young brother Kyle's chances for a title were over. Kurt's prediction proved prophetic as even after winning eight races during the "regular season," Kyle's season went south to the point that he is currently last (12th) among Chase drivers. He is a whopping 445 points out of first with no chance of winning his first title.

"I love my little brother and really wanted him to go on and win him a championship, but you could see the writing on the wall, even back then," Busch said when reminded of his calculation made a month ago.

In the hunt for not one, but two titles, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver and Nationwide Series points leader Clint Bowyer has just one more complicated weekend of travel to endure. Bowyer is running full time in both series, meaning on a weekend when the series do not run companion events, he spends much of his time traveling from track to track and team to team. This weekend will be the last time Bowyer will have to do the multi-track dance as he journeys between Atlanta and Memphis as the remaining races will be companion events at the same track.

"I think it's a little easier now because I know what to expect but it still takes a lot out of you," said Bowyer about his travel arrangements. "Those are the weekends where you really have to focus on what you're doing and what car you're in."

Memphis will mark Cale Gale's last race of the 2008 season for Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI). With 12 Nationwide Series starts under his belt in the 2008 season, Gale has had a season filled with career firsts.

At Nashville Superspeedway in March, Gale earned his first career top-10 finish. At O'Reilly Raceway Park, he earned his career-best start (third) and topped his previous career best finish by crossing the finish line sixth. Three weeks later, Gale returned to the car at Michigan International Raceway and recorded his then best start, taking the green flag from the second position. The following week, at the "World's Fastest Half-Mile," Bristol Motor Speedway, Gale topped the charts during qualifying and scored his first career pole. Running the entire night in the top five, Gale crossed the finish line in the fourth position, marking his first career top-five finish in 23 career Nationwide Series starts. In addition, Gale has earned Raybestos Rookie of the Race honors six times this season.

"I definitely think the second half of the year has been much better than the beginning," said Gale. "As a team, we've improved and the cars have gotten better. I'm not completely happy; I always want to do better. The last three or four times that I have been in the car I've been competitive and running up front."

"I've said all year that I needed to consistently run in the top 10 and then the top five before I could contend for wins," Gale continued. "I feel like I've got the top-10 runs. I need the same confidence and consistency for top-five finishes and I think we will be able to run up front and start contending for wins. Hopefully we can go to Memphis and run in the top five and be there at the end with a chance at the win. A good finish will give us the momentum we need to carry us into 2009."

Scott Wimmer made his Nationwide Series debut in October 2000 at Memphis Motorsports Park, where he started 32nd and finished 18th. Wimmer has earned one win, one top-five and four top-10 finishes, and has led 93 laps in five NNS starts at Memphis.

"That was probably my most memorable win," Wimmer remembered. "I had to hold off Ron Hornaday for about four or five restarts at the end and he actually got by me a couple of times. We had to battle hard for that win that day. I didn't have a sponsor on my car for that race and had just a small group of guys working real hard on the car and we were able to win it."

"It takes a lot of things to be good at Memphis," continued Wimmer about the track. "It's a pretty unique race track and it takes a lot of strategy to get a win there. You've got to have a car that runs good on the long runs but also on the short runs because that race seems to have a bunch of late-race cautions. That was the case last year and you have to be prepared to have a short run to the checkered flag. I won at Memphis in 2002 and had to go through a lot of restarts at the end of the race."

Ryan Newman, known as "The Rocket Man," slides in behind the wheel of the No. 2 Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) American Commercial Lines (ACL) Chevrolet for the first time at Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Truck Series E-Z GO 200. Newman has never driven in the Truck Series.

"It's the first time I've had the opportunity to run in the Truck Series. Everyone has always told me how much fun they have running the trucks, and now I've got the shot to see what it's like," said Newman. "I expect to go there and have fun. But in saying that, we should have a shot at the win in the end. KHI has two really strong trucks. My teammate is Ron Hornaday, who is currently second in points, and I think he was second at Atlanta earlier this year so I expect we'll have a really good truck - a top-five or top-10 truck. And by halfway, I'd like to be in a position where we have a shot at the win."

Jon Wood and the Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 U.S. Air Force Ford F-150 will also head to Atlanta for the E-Z-GO 200 on Saturday. Along with celebrating his 27th birthday this Saturday, Jon Wood is looking forward to getting back to the fast 1.5-mile oval. Wood finished 10th in the spring night race and the team is bringing the chassis that qualified fourth in Texas.

"It's a short race and these mile-and-a-half racetracks seem best suited for 250 miles and this one being 200, that 50 miles doesn't sound like a lot, but for some reason it makes that race go by so much faster," said Wood.

Wood notes that pit strategy is key to track position due to the short duration of the race.

"You don't have enough laps to make it back to the front. If you're the lead guy, the caution comes out and you opt to stay out and everyone behind you comes in to pit," Wood explained. "They may not have been better than you prior to the pit stop, but they've got brand new tires and you're a sitting duck."